Time for my (belated) overlong discussion of the Women’s Basketball Team.  Last night was the annual exhibition opener against D2 Saginaw Valley State. MGoBoard poster jplwhite has a nice overview of that over on the message board, so I won’t step on their toes here. 

 

This season sees, by far, the most roster transfer in KBA’s tenure.  It’s a new world out there, right?

 

Going through it all, we have several transfers out:

• MGoMatty favorite Maddie Nolan is gone for Colorado, which really hurts, on several levels.  On the court, she was the team’s designated long-range shooter, defensive pest, and a sneaky-good rebounder.  Off the court I’m frankly disappointed that she’s leaving after Michigan stuck with her through a devastating (as in, “she’ll never play at a high level again” devastating) high-school knee injury.  Not that anyone owes a school anything in this era, but man.  It hurts to see her go.
• The other painful one is Ari Wiggins.  Wiggins came in as a lightning-quick pure point guard that was a freshman.  Which is to say she had freshman point guard disease…she found minutes as a soph, but when KBA shifted to Michelle Sidor, and then Leigha Brown, to point for her final season, it was pretty clear that Ari was cooked.  It’s a bummer – I would not be even slightly surprised to see her be a star at Butler.
• Kate Clarke was a top-100 recruit as a frosh last year, got some initial play but not much after December 1.  She appeared to need some time in the weight room, but also a bit raw in the time she did see and probably faced a struggle for minutes this year.  This one was a playing time transfer to DePaul.
• Michelle Sidor was seemingly the 2021 starter at point coming out of fall camp, or at least due for a big-time increase in minutes.  Then she (apparently) had a back injury and only suited up once.  FWIW, I was skeptical…a huge scorer in high school, she always seemed a step slow and an inch or two short at the D1 level.  She might carve out a nice final season shooting jump shots at DePaul.
• Izabel Varejao was an odd case from the moment she arrived on campus.  6’-4”, an excellent rim protector and rebounder, she also had a really superb variety of post moves and midrange game.  She played a fair amount as a 4 and 5 a frosh (the Naz / Varejao lineups were really effective), but got stuck in Brazil during COVID.  She showed up late that season, was somewhat out of shape the next and got reduced minutes behind Naz and Emily Kiser, then was hurt all last year.  She still has two seasons of eligibility – if she can stay healthy, Syracuse could be a great spot to jump start her career.
• The weird “transfer” is Danielle Rauch, who is not, strictly speaking a “transfer.”  She graduated in 2022 and spent the last season as a graduate assistant at Clemson, no surprise given her reputation as a KBA “Mini-Me.”  So I was surprised to see that she’s going to play one more season take her COVID year at Clemson after a year on the bench.

Incoming

• Taylor Williams arrives from Western Michigan as a superb inside scorer, rebounder, and post defender.  As a junior, she averaged 14.7 points and 9.0 rebounds, made all-MAC honorable mention, was named to the MAC All-Defensive team.  She looks to be an perfect replacement for Emily Kiser, except at the free-throw line, where she’s…not good.
• Elissa Brett arrives as a grad transfer after four years at Bowling Green  As a senior, she averaged 14.7 points and 6 boards and made all-MAC first team and MAC All-Defense.  She was a key starter for an excellent team.
• Lauren Hansen arrives as a grad transfer after three years at Missouri (two as a starter) and a freshman year starting at Auburn.  She’s a streaky scorer, plus shooter and gets to the glass but is an average defender. She does appear to play with a chip on her shoulder, and isn’t afraid of the spotlight.  She hit one of the bigger shots in the last couple years, a buzzer-beating layup (to go with 21 points and 7 boards) to beat South Carolina in OT.  My only hope is that KBA resists her annual urge to turn a shooting guard into a point guard…on the other hand, I’m not sure there’s an obvious point among the returnees.

Incoming Frosh

• Michigan Miss Basketball Macy Brown is probably the most well-known incoming player, at least locally.  KBA has not generally brought in Michigan Miss Basketballs – the only two to this point in her tenure were Madison Ristovski in 2012 (a Kevin Borseth recruit who stuck through the coaching transition and was good but never quite got over the hump to greatness) and Kysre Gondrezick (a WNBA-level incredible talent with…um…attitude issues that bolted after a season).  Brown is a tall, athletic combo guard that can handle the ball and score in a variety of ways.
• Taylor Woodson arrives from Minnesota, a big, strong, active wing that attacks the hoop and rebounds with aggression and physicality.  Not a conventional post player, she has a nice variety of inside moves and just seems to find ways to get the ball in the basket.  ESPN had her as the #59 recruit in the country.
• Worth noting that incoming signee Katy Eidle is no longer on the roster and reportedly not a student.  She joined the team on their European tour this summer, but did have her arm in a sling throughout.  I haven’t seen anything from the program, and her twitter feed is silent on what happened.

Returnees

• Seniors:  Whitney Sollom, Elise Stuck
• Juniors: Laila Phelia, Jordan Hobbs
• Sophs:  Alyssa Crockett, Chryra Evans

That’s the roster…I’ll post a part two with an outlook and predictions in the next few days.